The present invention relates to adjustable snow plows for attachment to personal utility vehicles such as pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.
Moving snow off of open ground, streets, sidewalks and parking lots is an age-old problem in less temperate climates where significant snowfall is anticipated during colder periods of the year. For instance, in many parts of Canada and in many northern states in the United States, significant snowfall can be expected during the late fall and early-to-mid winter months. Snowfall in some of these areas is also possible in early spring.
Clearing freshly fallen snow from open ground, parking lots, driveways, sidewalks and roadways, whether these surfaces are paved or not, is a task common to all of these areas that is generally required to make these surfaces passable. If the snow is allowed to accumulate over a period of weeks, the snow eventually makes the use of these surfaces for pedestrian and vehicular travel difficult, if not treacherous. Therefore, many devices have been designed and manufactured to remove accumulated snow from such surfaces. Municipalities generally use large vehicles with enormous snow plows to clear paved roadways used by the public and states in these areas also generally have a fleet of these vehicles to clear snow from such roadways and from large parking lots on state-owned properties. However, the purchase and use of such a vehicle by individuals, who have a need to move accumulated snow in smaller areas, is less feasible. First of all, the larger vehicles are expensive to purchase and maintain and are, in some cases, dedicated solely to the removal of accumulated snow. It will be appreciated that it would not be cost effective for an individual to purchase, house and maintain such a vehicle for removing snow from driveways and smaller parking lots during a limited period of the year.
For this reason, many inventors have designed and manufactured adjustable snow plows that can be attached to pickup trucks and other vehicles for a period of time during the year when snow removal is required. In this way, the vehicles can be used for other purposes during periods when snow removal is not required. Many of the snow plows attached to these vehicles, however, are large and heavy and are not easily attached and removed from the vehicles. A number of snow plows have been invented that attempt to address these problems. For instance, Kowalczyk (U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,104) discloses a detachable snow plow assembly that is pivotally attached to a common passenger vehicle. In one embodiment of the invention, the snow plow includes rollers secured within channels attached to mounting uprights to allow the plow blade to ride up and down when the blade comes into contact with irregularities in the surface. The plow blade can also pivot forward along with the mounting uprights in certain embodiments when the vehicle is moving backward allowing the plow blade to pivot forward over the ground. In other disclosures, such as the snow plow assembly disclosed by Rosenberg (U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,795) a trip mechanism is disclosed which allows the lower part of the plow blade to pivot backward when the plow blade comes into contact with relatively immovable objects and the trip mechanism is actuated. Rosenberg also discloses a rubber scraper at the bottom of the plow blade which is secured between two metal plates and oriented at an angle rearward of a vertical orientation. Rubber scrapers are also disclosed on older snow plows, such as the snow plow mold board disclosed by C. H. Wagner (U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,149), which discloses a resilient scraping blade made of rubber. This is a common feature in many snow plows, allowing the rubber scraper to contact the ground and provide a somewhat more forgiving surface with which to contact the ground when the plow is used to remove accumulated snow, but the rubber scraper is generally accompanied by a metal backing.
Although each of these has its own advantages, none of them are easy to attach and remove from the vehicle once attached. They also tend to be heavy and cumbersome, and at least somewhat unsightly. The present invention provides a more cost effective and attractive snow plow for removing smaller amounts of accumulated snow from driveways and small-to-medium sized parking lots where one individual may wish to use his or her vehicle to remove snow during a relatively limited period of time, while still having use of the vehicle for other purposes not involving snow removal, when the snow plow must either be removed or placed in a suitable position for non-snow removing transit. The present invention provides solutions for these and other problems associated with the prior art devices for removing accumulated snow and methods used to accomplish the same.
The present invention provides a self-adjusting snow plow for attachment to a vehicle in such a manner to permit the snow plow to make position adjustments when, during use when the vehicle is in motion, a portion of the snow plow comes into contact with a mass of snow or other objects on the ground, upon which the vehicle travels when in motion, that are relatively immovable. The self-adjusting snow plow preferably includes a mounting apparatus for attachment to the vehicle and a plow blade. The mounting apparatus preferably includes first and second mounting uprights and the plow blade has first and second ends, a top, a bottom, a retention member and a rubber scraper preferably secured to the bottom of the plow blade. In preferred embodiments, the plow blade will include first and second retention members. In these embodiments, the retention members are constructed and arranged to at least partially encircle one of the respective mounting uprights when the plow blade is engaged with the mounting apparatus in a working orientation such that the plow blade is in contact with the ground or objects on the ground. The respective retention members are slidably engaged with the respective mounting uprights when the plow blade is engaged with the mounting apparatus in a working orientation. When the plow blade comes into contact with a mass of snow or other objects on the ground that are relatively immovable, the respective retention members can slide upward along the respective mounting uprights to enable either or both of the respective ends of the plow blade to slide upwardly relative to the mounting upright most proximate to that end of the plow blade. The retention members also permit the bottom of the plow blade to freely pivot away from the respective mounting uprights when the plow blade is engaged with the mounting apparatus in a working orientation and the vehicle is in motion in a direction rearward of the plow blade. In preferred embodiments, the rubber scraper secured to the bottom of the plow blade is a resilient elastomeric member having a resting orientation in which the rubber scraper extends downwardly and away from the bottom of the plow blade at an angle which extends forward from a plane which extends along a main surface of the plow blade. In preferred embodiments, the rubber scraper is preferably about an inch thick and extends away from the plow blade at least about three and one-half inches. In alternate embodiments having a single retention member, the retention member is alternatively constructed and arranged to either encircle or partially encircle both of the mounting uprights.
It is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a method of clearing accumulated snow from the surface of driveways, parking lots and other similar areas where snow removal is essential during the winter months.
It is an additional objective of the present invention to provide such an apparatus that can be easily mounted and removed from the front end of pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and other commonly used vehicles.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide such an apparatus for snow removal that is much simpler to install and use then other similar devices commonly found in the market today.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide such an apparatus for snow removal which includes a plow blade which is relatively light and allows an individual person to lift respective ends of the plow blade in order to lower them into position for clearing snow or to lift the respective ends of the plow blade to secure the blade in position for transit.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide such an apparatus for snow removal that does not require the owner of the vehicle to purchase separate running lights for the vehicle in order to use the self-adjusting snow plow.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide such an apparatus for snow removal that easily slides upward on a mounting apparatus to allow the plow blade to go up and over immovable objects encountered during use.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide such an apparatus for snow removal that allows the operator to drive in reverse after moving snow off of a flat surface, wherein the plow blade is hinged so that the blade xe2x80x9cfloatsxe2x80x9d freely on a pair of mounting uprights and can slide up and down independently on the mounting uprights and the lower portion of the plow blade can pivot forward with respect to the mounting uprights allowing the vehicle to easily draw the plow blade in reverse.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide such an apparatus for snow removal that lifts the rubber scraper at the bottom of the plow blade off the ground when the vehicle draws the plow blade in reverse and the lower portion of the plow blade pivots forward with respect to the mounting apparatus.
It is still a further objective of the present invention to provide such a method that does not employ the use of expensive and heavy hydraulic systems that are common used in such devices today.
These objectives are preferably accomplished by the use of a common hitch receiver that is attached to (and extends forward from) the front end of the vehicle that is to be used in the plowing operation. This receiver hitch preferably provides a mounting point for the mounting apparatus, which is accomplished by inserting a tongue of the plow hitch into the hitch receiver and then locking it into place with a pin. This forms a solid mounting for the present invention that allows it to be quickly and easily attached to the front end of any vehicle. A primary advantage of this invention is that it does not require that a user keep the plow assembly on the plow vehicle for the entire season. Its ease of use is also a primary advantage as is its moderate cost.
These and other objectives and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the following description, made in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views. And, although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied in other specific structure. While the preferred embodiment has been described, the details may be changed without departing from the invention, which is defined by the claims.